Denys Watkins celebrates 50 years of colourful abstracts

For fifty years Auckland-based painter Denys Watkins has produced lushly-coloured abstract paintings often responding to nature, the joy of being part of it and threats to it. Despite being a frequent exhibitor, especially now he's no longer an art tutor, he's about to show his first exhibition in Christchurch - at the COCA Gallery as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in its Modernist building in the CBD. Lynn Freeman talks to Denys Watkins about Dynamo Hum, which features a selection of important paintings, spanning the decades.